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REVIEW: Searching for punk rock at Van’s Warped Tour 2007

Ear Candy spent Saturday frolicking in the sun with the Hop Topic clad masses at Van’s Warped Tour. Overall, it was a terrific time as it usually is at punk rock summer camp. Below is the unedited review that will appear in Monday’s print edition of the P-I.

You can also expect the standard Ear Candy post-Warped post with the rundown on all the goodness that was a day of rock n’ roll at the Gorge with plenty of pictures and a possible video in the near future. In the meantime, you can revisit last year’s EC Warped recapfor a taste of what’s to come.

GEORGE — What is punk rock?

That’s a relevant question the current musical climate of iPods,
MySpace, file sharing and all the other nifty technological advances
of the digital age

It’s also a question that could have possibly been answered Saturday
at the 13th annual Van’s Warped Tour. However, no clear-cut answers
were provided after taking in sets by dozens out the more than 75
bands on the bill that were sprawled out across nine stages on the
grounds of the Gorge Amphitheatre.

The festival, commonly called “punk rock summer camp,” did include
some elements of punk. Mainstage band Pennywise lashed out against the Bush administration. That’s punk. There were countless mohawks,
pierced body parts, and tattoos. Those can qualify as punk too.

Oh yeah, there was also the music. The day included sets from
Irish-flavored fan favorites Flogging Molly and venerable punk vets
Bad Religion. Both delivered 30 minutes of refreshing, visceral and
exciting music.

However, there were more corporate sponsors on site than a NASCAR
race, making Warped a massive cesspool of consumerism. Depending on how cynical, or possibly purist, of a punk you are, Warped could be seen as one giant Hot Topic. Chalk one up for not punk.

Also, consider that for every tried and true punk band that plugged in
to an amp and played its brand of fist-pumping music– and there were
plenty, including Tiger Army, The Gallows, New Found Glory and others – there were almost twice as many annoying emo bands on the bill. Case
and point, The Starting Line, Hawthorne Heights, Cute Is What We Aim
For, Circa Survive and about two dozen others. Emo is about as punk
rock as credit card debt.

So, what have we learned? It seems Warped Tour is a bit of a punk
rock paradox when it comes to fleshing out a definition what is punk.
At best Warped might only be punk because popular culture says so.